


Pseudonyms

by SML8180



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Human, Boys In Love, Coffee, Crimes & Criminals, Deceit | Janus Sanders Has Trust Issues, False Identity, Hacking, How Do I Tag, Logic | Logan Sanders Has Feelings, Logic | Logan Sanders-centric, M/M, On the Run, Partners in Crime, Sympathetic Deceit | Janus Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29823165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SML8180/pseuds/SML8180
Summary: When your work leads to you to running from the law and your competition, you hardly use your real name. Logan knows this as well as just about everyone in his line of work. If it weren't for Janus, he'd probably never use his real name.With another job done, Logan and Janus needed to get out of town. They needed a new place to stay, and new pseudonyms to go by. They'd figure all that out in time.
Relationships: Deceit | Janus Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	Pseudonyms

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, I don't have any Chaos is Normal content this week. But, this has been in my Drive since December, so I might as well put it out there! I have a few ideas for this storyline going forward, so it might end up a little series somewhere down the line.

The room was dark; the lights were off, blinds shut, door locked, and it was a moonless night outside. The only light in the room came from the laptop perched in the man’s lap as he typed. He had to finish this before he ran out of time. His bag was packed and stood leaning against the wall by the window; he would only have to tuck the machine in his lap into the unzipped slot, zip it up, and sling it over his shoulder when he left.

He wouldn’t be leaving through the door, he wasn’t an idiot. He had his dresser barricading the door, as well as a rubber wedge doorstop in place. The doorstop likely wouldn’t do too much, but it could buy him a few extra seconds. The window was already open and the screen popped out of place, leaning against the railing of the fire escape. The wind blowing into the room was cool, and the man adjusted the tie he wore under his grey hoodie. Just a few more commands and-

_ Bam. Bam. Bam _

He was almost out of time. His fingers practically flew over the last few keys before he hit  _ Enter _ and shut the lid of the laptop. He could shut it down properly once he was no longer in the room. More banging sounded from the door, and a muffled voice shouted for him to open up. He stuffed the laptop into the open pocket of his bag and zipped it shut, pulling the straps over his shoulders. He pushed the blinds up and slipped out the open window, moving them back into place and reaching to shut the window once he was through. He pressed the screen back into place and made his way down the fire escape, slipping under the railing of the lowest landing and climbing down the rungs of the ladder that reached below the landing, before simply letting himself drop to the ground.

His black sneakers hit the pavement with a soft thud and quiet scrape as he righted himself, pulling his hood on over his head. The lights of police cars flashed from the main road, and he walked away from them, further down the alley. There was an alley connecting to this one behind the building next to the one he’d just come out of, and he took a left down it. He eventually took another left, and emerged at the main road, further from the police lights. A smirk crossed his lips as he turned right, making his way down the sidewalk.

There was a small 24-hour coffee shop about a block away, and the man entered it as it started to rain outside. Just a drizzle, but enough that his grey hoodie was darkened by the water by the time he got inside. He ordered a medium black coffee, giving the name  _ Oliver _ when asked, paying in cash, and situated himself at a small bar-height table in the corner. He pulled his laptop out of his bag and tucked the bag close to the wall. The barista called out  _ Oliver _ , and he stepped forward, thanking the worker for the coffee. He added a single creamer to the coffee, mixed it in, and went back to his seat.

The coffee took a spot to the left of the laptop, and the laptop lid was opened. After entering his password, he was met with the program he’d been running before closing the lid of the machine earlier. He reviewed his work, saved it, and closed the program. He used a messaging app on his laptop to send a message to the person he’d been hired by, letting them know that the job was done and he was expecting the second half of his payment within 24 hours. With that settled, he shut down the laptop, put it away, and looked around the coffee shop.

Aside from himself, there was only the barista and one other patron inside. From where he sat, he had a good view of the door and the sidewalk through the windows. The soft jazz music blended with the sound of the rain falling outside, and he found it soothing. He looked at the name on his cup, written in black sharpie against the shop’s usual blue cup.  _ Oliver _ .

It wasn’t his real name, of course. Once again, he wasn’t an idiot.  _ Oliver _ was simply one of the many pseudonyms he used. He used pseudonyms more than his real name at this point. If not for his partner, he likely would have forgotten his real name with just how little he used it. He'd long lost count of how many individual identities he'd pulled together, but the number had to be nearing one hundred by now.

As he took a sip of his coffee, his phone chimed with two different notifications. The first sounded like a coin being dropped onto a tabletop, and the second sounded like someone had snapped their fingers twice. He pulled his phone out of his hoodie pocket and unlocked it, checking the notifications. The first was the notification that informed him he’d gotten the second half of his payment for the most recent job, and the second was a message, which he opened.

**_Yellow:_ ** _ About ready to go? _

**_Indigo:_ ** _ I am. _

**_Yellow:_ ** _ Where are you? _

**_Indigo:_ ** _ [photo attached*] _

**_Yellow:_ ** _ I’ll be there in ten minutes. _

_ *The photo depicted his coffee cup, displaying the logo of the coffee shop, the white and black design standing against the cup's pale blue background. _

_ Indigo _ , another pseudonym, one of his most commonly used. He used it mostly with personal contacts. Even though they knew his name, they never used it unless it was spoken in private. In text, he was always  _ Indigo _ , no matter what. He sat and sipped his coffee, waiting for his ride, thankful he wouldn’t be walking in the rain.

Ten minutes passed, and he was just finishing his coffee when a car pulled up outside. He grabbed his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder as he made his way towards the door. His cup was disposed of in the trash bin by the door, and he stepped out into the rain, hurrying over to the car. He put his backpack in the backseat, and climbed into the front passenger seat, slumping a bit once he was out of the rain. As the car pulled away from the curb, he buckled his seat belt.

“You got out through the window again, didn’t you?” his driver questioned after almost five minutes of silence.

“Through the window, down the fire escape, down the alley, emerging on the other side of the building next door,” he confirmed.

“Classic.”

“I thought so.”

The man driving hit the volume control for the sound system in the car, and a small yellow icon popped up in the corner of the display screen on the dashboard between them. Another press of a button led to the car being filled with music, specifically  _ Razzle Dazzle _ .

“Where are we heading, now?”

“I was thinking Gainesville.”

“We’ve been in Florida for too long as it is, and Gainesville is only a couple of hours away, it’s too risky.”

“Any better ideas?”

“We haven’t been in New England for a while. Maybe we could try Boston?”

“It’s October, and I’m  _ not _ equipped to spend the winter in Massachusetts. It’s too damn cold.”

“Chicago?”

“Again, cold, but better than heading all the way to California.”

“Chicago it is, then.”

The driver nodded, turning onto the highway. The two simply listened to the music for a while.

“I’m glad you got out of there, Lo,” the driver stated.

“You were worried,” he mused.  _ Lo _ , another sort of pseudonym, though it was more of a nickname that he only let a very small handful of people call him.

“Of course I was worried, my boyfriend of three years was running an  _ incredibly _ dangerous job with the cops  _ right outside his door _ . I know you’re good at what you do, but damn it, Logan, you’re still human.”

_ Logan _ . That was his name. His  _ real _ name. The one he only let a very select few call him. The man beside him was one of those select few.

“As are you, Janus,” Logan stated. “I promise, I will never leave you behind.”

“For how long?”

“Until the day I die.”

“Is that the truth?”

“Of course. I may lie, but you know full well that I do not lie about these things, especially to you.”

Janus lifted their hands and pressed a gentle kiss to Logan’s knuckles. They fell silent for a while, and Logan began to drift off to sleep, still holding Janus’ hand. He fell asleep as they drove down the highway, and Janus let him, knowing the man needed the sleep.

The night passed quietly, leaving Janus with hours to think. He and Logan had met while laying low between jobs almost four years ago, when Janus had been going by  _ Dimitri Bryant _ , and Logan was going by  _ Connor Anderson _ . They ended up becoming roommates, renting a two bedroom apartment while working jobs that matched up to degrees they had earned well before meeting. Janus had been working at an exotic animal vet’s office, specializing in reptiles, while Logan had been working as a substitute science and English teacher for the school district. After nearly a year of living together, they had started dating, unable to deny their growing feelings for one another.

It had taken nearly eight months of dating for Logan to tell Janus his real name,  _ Logan Quinn Berry _ had been spoken in a voice that sounded so shy and anxious compared to how Janus knew his love normally sounded that he knew he was being told the truth.

It had taken another six months for Janus to finally tell Logan his name. His voice wavered as he spoke the name  _ Janus Cameron Ayer _ for the first time in just over two years.

They had both spent years going by various pseudonyms, a revolving door of names and identities used to keep authorities searching for people who didn’t exist. For the first time in years, they had someone they could be themselves with. Even with as much as they ran and changed their names to the public, they both knew that behind closed doors, they could call one another by their real names, no pseudonyms required.


End file.
